Apple Fixes Two-Factor Authentication Setup Bug

HomeKit in iOS 10 requires Two-Factor authentication if you plan to remotely control or monitor your smarthome devices. That isn’t a big deal, unless you’re one of the unlucky few who were blocked from switchting to Apple’s more secure password authentication system. The good news is that Apple finally fixed the issue, so HomeKit can be more that your in-home personal assistant again.

You get two-factor authentication! And you get two-factor authentication!

Prior to Apple’s unannounced fix, the Two-Factor setup dialog showed the warning, “Two-factor authentication is not available for your Apple ID at this time.” That was bad news because once we moved to iOS 10, remotely accessing HomeKit devices was broken without a fix.

The fix happened independently of the macOS Sierra 10.12.1 and iOS 10.1 updates, both of which rolled out this afternoon. That’s too bad because had this been part of the OS updates, we might have seen a line item mentioning the fix.

If you want to learn how to enable Two-Factor authentication check out TMO’s quick tip, and start controlling your lights again when you’re away from home.